readytorunbook Chapter 302 A Hero's Decisive Move: Sacrificing a Pawn to Save the Rook
Chapter 302 A Hero's Decisive Move: Sacrificing a Pawn to Save the Rook
What generals need most when commanding troops is, first and foremost, a good physique.
Half the time in military campaigns is spent on the road, exposed to wind and rain, enduring hunger and even staying up all night every day. Occasionally, they might get injured, but they still have to stay up all night. Without a strong body, they really can't endure it.
If you don't believe me, look at Zhou Yu. He was capable and handsome, but he died from a single arrow wound because of poor health. On the other hand, Guan Yu was also unfortunately wounded by an arrow, and it was even a poisoned one. Yet, he was still alive and kicking at the age of sixty and even married Xiao Qiao.
Their experiences are enough to prove the importance of good health for generals. Fighting is a job that is both physically and mentally taxing, and those who are weak and sickly are really not suitable for it.
Shen Yi is staying up late again tonight. It's almost 3 AM and he still doesn't dare to rest. Instead, he continues to study the map and think of countermeasures with heavy eyelids.
To make it easier to understand, he, like Lu Xun, also numbered the entry gaps between Baopingyu and Yushan, and sent messengers to gather all the intelligence he had collected.
According to the information gathered, Lu Xun launched probing attacks on gaps two, three, four, and five simultaneously, while also sending men to slowly fill in the traps left by Xu Sheng. On the surface, it seemed that he wanted to open up the road as soon as possible to attack Yushan, but in reality, even a fool could see that he simply wanted to prevent the Han army from leaving the city.
Through this jumbled intelligence, Shen Yi quickly deduced Lu Xun's true intentions: Grand Commander Lu was determined to take a bite out of the retreating Han army.
Currently, the Han army is in the mountains and the Wu army is in the corridor. The two armies are like two parallel lines that will never intersect. The five gaps in the mountain are like the connection points between the two lines. If Lu Xun really follows the gaps into the mountains, he can easily cut the retreating Han army into five or six sections and then eat them up piece by piece.
You must know that the Han army in the mountains is currently lined up in long queues due to the terrain. If they are suddenly attacked, they will panic. At that time, even without the Wu army's attack, they will trample each other in the panic and suffer rapid casualties.
The current situation is extremely dangerous for the Han army. Shen Yi has encountered a crisis that Guan Xing has never faced since he raised his army in Jiangdong. How to safely bring the Han army back from the mountains has become his primary concern.
The main problem was that there were too many Han troops in the mountains. The 13,000 Han troops besieging Xu Sheng, plus the 5,000 or 6,000 captured surrendered soldiers, totaled nearly 20,000.
Moreover, the surrendered soldiers have not yet been reformed and do not have a high degree of identification with the Han army. If they were to defect on the front lines when the Wu army attacks, the Han army would be truly doomed.
Shen Yi stood in front of the map, racking his brains for half the night, but couldn't come up with a good way to escape unscathed. However, he didn't have much time left and had to make a decision immediately.
Around 3 AM, Shen Yi finally made up his mind to make a tough decision, sacrificing a pawn to save the chariot, leaving the surrendered soldiers behind for Lu Xun to capture.
Since Grand Commander Lu is determined to take a bite out of him, then so be it. It's better to abandon the surrendered soldiers and preserve the main force of the Han army than to be wiped out. Between two evils, choose the lesser.
Thinking this, Shen Yi picked up his pen and wrote several orders, which he then sent to Wu Yue overnight. He ordered Wu Yue to move the surrendered soldiers to the back of the column, and then send troops to guard the fourth and fifth gaps closest to Yushan, try to block the third gap, and put up a symbolic resistance at the second gap, and give up if they really couldn't hold on.
The Han army has not yet retreated to the No. 4 gap. The No. 4 gap is essentially the head of the Han army. If it falls, the Wu army will rush into the mountains and block the Han army, trapping tens of thousands of troops in the mountains. In that case, the Han army would be completely wiped out. Therefore, the No. 4 and No. 5 gaps must be held to allow the head of the Han army to return safely.
The third gap is the waist of the Han army. The longer they hold it, the more Han soldiers will pass through the gap, and the more manpower they can preserve.
The second gap is the tail of the Han army. Shen Yi moved the surrendered soldiers to the tail. If the Wu army were to break in, they would first encounter the surrendered soldiers, and then the Han army. In this way, although the surrendered soldiers would be lost, the Han army would be preserved.
Then some people might ask, why bother giving up all four gaps? Wouldn't it be better to defend all four gaps at the same time and prevent the Wu army from entering the mountains?
The answer is no.
One should not be too greedy. If you want everything, you will end up with nothing. If you really defend to the death and let Wu's army open up the offensive, who knows which gap Wu's army will eventually break through? If they break through the fourth or fifth gap, then we will be in trouble.
The current Wu army is like a raging flood, and the breach in the mountain is like a floodgate. If we forcibly block it and let the floodwaters rush in, no one can guarantee which gate will be breached in the end, or even all the gates.
However, if one sluice gate is opened, the floodwater will be siphoned through the opened gate, thus reducing the pressure on the other sluice gates.
You can't have your cake and eat it too; you have to learn to make choices when it matters.
After sending out the order, Shen Yi immediately went to bed and instructed his personal guards to wake him up at dawn. He needed to take the initiative to attack and try to tie down a portion of Wu's forces, so that Wu's forces could not be completely poured into the breach.
……
Wu Jun's main camp.
Unlike Shen Yi, who couldn't sleep all night, Lu Xun slept very soundly last night. When he got up in the morning, he stretched and called Bu Xie over, instructing him: "It's almost time. Let's prepare for the final attack. We must take the breach today. If we can take just one of the four breaches, we will win."
"Tell Liu Asi Xin that the fourth and fifth gaps are the most important. If we can take them, we can completely trap the Han army in the mountains and annihilate them. Even if we can't take them, we should launch a full-scale attack to attract more Han troops to the gaps and create an opportunity to attack the second and third gaps."
"Tell Xie Jing again that even if he dies on the edge of the trap, he must hold back the Han army coming out of Yushan. He must not let them rush through the gap in the corridor to surround and attack the main force. Move out."
"Yes..." Bu Xie dared not delay and turned to leave. After leaving the tent, he sent out several messengers to notify the various departments, and he himself rode a fast horse to rush to the second gap.
The second gap was less than 20 li from Wu's main camp, a distance that could be reached in the blink of an eye on horseback.
Bu Xie arrived at the breach and successfully met up with Ding Feng. After exchanging pleasantries, he asked directly, "General Ding, what is the current situation?"
Having fully recovered, Ding Feng said with great enthusiasm, "The Han army has already passed through the second gap and is heading towards the third gap. Although the garrison at the forward outposts has not withdrawn, they are no longer a threat. When the main force of the Han army left, they took their hearts with them. Now, their minds are no longer on fighting, but on figuring out when they can retreat."
Bu Xie was overjoyed and said, "That's great! The Grand Commander has ordered a full-scale attack. We must break through the Han army's outposts as soon as possible and catch them off guard."
Bu Xie initially brought 2,000 men, and later Ding Feng brought another 3,000. Currently, Wu's army at the No. 2 gap numbers as high as 5,000, so attacking a sentry post defended by only a hundred men is naturally not a problem.
Ding Feng did not hesitate and immediately led his army to set off. They quickly arrived near the outpost and ordered the catapults to attack the outpost first, followed by the archers firing, and finally the main force charging.
If it were just these conventional methods, the Han army could have easily withstood the attack by taking advantage of the terrain. However, the despicable Bu Xie had sent scouts up the mountain beforehand. The moment they saw the Wu army attacking, the scouts on the mountaintop immediately threw stones down from the mountain. The weight of the stones themselves, combined with the acceleration caused by falling from a height, made it impossible for the Han army to withstand. In less than 15 minutes, the Han army had no choice but to retreat, handing over the outpost to the Wu army.
Ding Feng took the lead and rushed into the sentry post without stopping, quickly heading towards the second sentry post. Just as they had predicted, the resistance at the second sentry post was still weak, and they withdrew after only half an hour. Then came the third sentry post.
Although there were many Han soldiers here, the terrain was not as good as the first outpost, and the Han soldiers also had to withdraw after holding out for half an hour.
In this way, Ding Feng broke through three Han army checkpoints in just over an hour, and then led his army to pursue the Han army with all his might.
About 15 minutes later, Ding Feng finally saw the retreating Han army and was dumbfounded.
The Han soldiers in front were all dressed in Wu army uniforms and had no weapons. They were clearly the captured Xu Sheng's army.